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properly executed sabotage strategies have little counterplay and encourage degenerate play

coldflame
coldflame Member Posts: 130
in Feedback and Suggestions

this isnt a commentary on sabotage being annoying, overpowered, toxic, or anything along those lines, it's simply just the case that sabotage is unhealthy for the game and probably ought to just be removed as a mechanic like the original incarnation of hatch was

what are the issues with sabotage? well, there's quite a lot:

  • entirely reliant on map and hook rng: this one is a freebie, but the viability and oppressiveness of sabotage varies wildly game to game, based both on what the map is and how the hooks decided to spawn. some maps have functionally no areas where a sabotage is guaranteed, whilst some maps have functionally no areas where a down is guaranteed. matches where the survivor gameplan is sabotage-focused become a coinflip, which is not good.
  • creates entirely safe areas of the map: this relates to the previous point, but sabotage strategies create functional safezones where even if downed you cannot realistically be hooked. this is pretty obviously unhealthy for the game.
  • lacks effective counterplay for the killer: the killer's options when they down someone against a correctly executed sabotage strategy and only have one hook are limited. they can either opt to pick up and play for the hook functionally just letting the survivor get away, or they can slug and try take out the entire survivor team. between unbreakable, WGLF, and other aspects of a sabotage strategy, the killer can be stalled out for a very long time trying to secure a single hook. agitation and a couple other perks balance out sabotage to some extent, but this again just creates a rock-paper-scissors guessing game where matches are decided before they're loaded into. meaningful counterplay exists when capitalising on errors made by survivors in executing a sabotage strategy, but balancing the game around mistakes is silly
  • encourages slugging: BHVR apparently view slugging as a bad thing- if that's true or not is left as an exercise to the reader, but if the game wants to discourage slugging as has been promised then leaving sabotage in is questionable at best choice. it encourages slugging to counter it, sure, but it also is one of the main factors that slugging instead of hooking is a preferable gameplan for a lot of killer players..

flashlight saves offer a save mechanic that is dynamic and creates interesting tactical decisions for both sides. sabotage does the exact opposite- the gameplan on either side is very clear cut and requires little mechanical skill, with the outcome being reliant on rng and loadout choices that happen before the match starts.

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